Hydroprene is ethyl (2E,4E)-3,7,11-trimethyl-2,4-dodecadienoate and is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,461. It is known to have juvenile hormone activity on insects, J Agric Food Chem (1973) 21:354-359; J Agric Food Chem (1976) 24:207-218 The juvenile hormone activity of hydroprene (racemic mixture) on Blatella germanica (German cockroach) is reported in J Econ Entom (1975) 68:46-48.
There is an asymmetric carbon atom at C-7 in hydroprene and, accordingly, there are R and S enantiomers of the compound. J Agric Food Chem (1978) 26:542-550 reports comparative juvenile hormone activity tests on (S)-(+) hydroprene, (R)-(-) hydroprene and the racemic mixture on Aedes aegypti, Galleria mellonella, Tenebrio molitor, Musca domestica, and Heliothis virescents. These tests showed that the (S)-(+) enantiomer showed approximately twice the activity of the racemic mixture on these insect species. This 2:1 activity ratio is typical of racemic mixtures in which one of the optical isomers is the predominant biologically active species.